How To Become a BNF

[kerravonsen]

With the recent HP fandom controversy going the rounds, I've been wondering about what makes a BNF, and what you have to have and do in order to become one.

ETA: Please note, I do not want to become a BNF. Note that my "mood" is "cynical".

1. Get in on the ground floor.
You have absolutely no chance of becoming a BNF in a particular fandom unless you are one of the first few people in that fandom. It doesn't help if you're more talented than an already established BNF, because by then it is too late. You have to get in while the fandom is hot, and the number of people required to impress is small -- once you've won them over, they will indoctrinate the latecomers.
This also requires a bit of prescience, since you have to know what fandoms are going to become big fandoms, before they do become big (you can't really be a BNF in a small fandom).

2. Live in the USA.
It isn't that there aren't BNFs outside the USA, but the culture of the USA seems more amenable to BNF-dom, possibly because modesty isn't considered a virtue in the USA.
Also, for fandoms based on US TV, it's easier to do #1 if you live in the USA.

3. Do something admirable.
If you want to be admired, you have to be able to produce something which other fans can admire.
(a) writing or art
This is a common method: "I worship your writing" has been uttered by fans of BNFs. You don't necessarily have to have fantastic talent (fans are easy to please) but you have to have some talent.
(b) connections
Have an "in" with actors/producers/writers of the fandom, and use that to score coups which can be shared with other fans.
(c) Organisation skills
Run a convention or a website, so long as it is the biggest convention ever, or THE website for that fandom. It helps if it's the first convention or website for the fandom (see #1)

4. Be prolific and/or tireless.
It's no good being a good writer or having connections if your work isn't appearing before other fans regularly. This is aided by having a spouse who earns the bread, or possibly having a job which is connected with fandom.
You also have to concentrate all your efforts on that particular fandom -- if you are interested in multiple fandoms, you are doomed, since your efforts are spread out over more than one fandom.

5. Be or know a gatekeeper.
The best way to become a BNF is to not only have the talent, but to also control the information flow to other fans. In the old days, this used to be along the lines of running a club or putting out a popular fanzine. Nowadays it's more along the lines of running a website or moderating a forum/mailing list. To avoid an apparent conflict of interest, it may be better if you yourself aren't the gatekeeper, but your best friend is.

---

All of these demonstrate why I will never become a BNF myself -- I'm interested in far too many fandoms, and I always seem to come in on the fandoms too late. Not to mention that I'm no good at self-promotion.

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I'm really kind of weirded out by the "it's all about popularity" vibes I keep getting off of random people in fandom lately. Like it somehow proves your worth as a person if you get x number of feedbacks or have x number of people friend your LJ, and that other people daring to draw attention away from you or to convince others to hold a different opinion from yours are doing you some horrible injury equivalent to throwing bricks through your windows. It just leaves me scratching my head.

I occasionally wonder if I'm just old. If maybe there's a difference in perspective between people who got into this stuff pre-internet vs younger people, or what. I just so vividly remember being that lonely geek kid in junior high school, when it absolutely meant the world to me to find three people who actually wanted to talk about the stuff I was interested in, never mind attracting hordes of admirers and being the Fannish Prom Queen. I just honestly don't get why people care about the six billion people who aren't interested in talking to them once they've found the precious handful who are on their same wavelength.

To me, fandom was a place to get away from the stupid popularity games of high school and find people with whom I could have passionate debates about the Prime Directive or whatever. It would never in a zillion years have occurred to me that the goal was to become a BNF, or that there was something unsatisfying about being unknown outside your own personal circle of friends.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the generational thing. I'm very very new to fandom in general (though I've been a geek all my life, of course), and I am young (26), and still my general reaction to all this popularity stuff is basically a huge WTF?! I like online fandom because I can find people to discuss the things I like, the things that move me, and to share (in essay, fic, or whatever format) my perspective.

I always (yes, I am naive) assumed a BNF was simply someone well known in part of a fandom, probably either because they run a website that everyone uses (*looks at The Leaky Cauldron*) or because they write such good fic that everyone has read and recommended their stories (I would have assumed that synaesthete7 was at least a moderate BNF, given the sheer number of times Darkness & Light comes up in my HP fandom circles).

In other words, that BNFs were well known because they had given a heck of a lot to their fandom and were respected for it.

This crazy worship of them, and the weirdness that is people *actively trying* to become BNFs, I just can't understand it.

the culture of the USA seems more amenable to BNF-dom, possibly because modesty isn't considered a virtue in the USA.

Ouch! I mean, yes, you're being sarcastic, but still, as an American myself--ouch. :-D

(oh, and my icon is directed at crazy fandom peoples, not you, Kat. *g*)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

A question, becasue I'm curious.

I came into B7 fandom late, but I published an awful lot of zines. I had a very large and active web site (still there, but less active these days) and I wrote masses.

Was I a BNF?

I'm currently chair of the 2008 British National Science Fiction convention (though I don't expect most of the attendees to recognise either my name or my face). Am I a BNF now?

I will not be offended by any answer - just curious.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I take it from the context that a BNF is a Big Name Fan? I find all this slightly bewildering as, though I'm a fan of various shows, I'm not really a Fan with a capital F (in the sense of being a member of a fannish community, going to conventions, reading fanzines etc).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My name only has 3 letters, I must be a Short Name Fan.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

You've forgotten: friend everybody in your fandom, hoping they'll friend you back, and comment in all their journals frequently--at least until you reach BNF status, at which point your comments must be granted sparingly. ;-)

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

Um... I consider you a BNF... in a good way, of course!

- Helen